US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday spoke with Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte and underscored the US’ “ironclad” solidarity with the Baltic nation in the face of pressure from China.
“It’s important for all partners in the EU, US and Indo-Pacific to work together to counter acts of coercion,” Simonyte wrote on Twitter yesterday after the call with Blinken.
Beijing has imposed a series of political and economic sanctions against Lithuania since it agreed to host the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania, which opened in Vilnius on Nov. 18.
Photo: AFP
“Secretary Blinken noted troubling public reports that People’s Republic of China (PRC) customs authorities are not clearing Lithuanian shipments or shipments with Lithuanian components, and that they are rejecting import applications from Lithuania,” a readout by US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said.
“The secretary underscored that such measures would raise serious concerns, including under international trade principles, and appear to constitute a form of economic coercion,” Price said.
“Secretary Blinken highlighted US support for Lithuania in the face of these actions and reaffirmed the US commitment to work with like-minded countries to push back against the PRC’s coercive diplomatic and economic behavior,” he said.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked Washington for demonstrating its leadership in the global alliance of democracies.
The government is convinced that the US would take concrete steps to help democratic partners counteract the political and economic coercions of authoritarian regimes, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
Taiwan, as a democratic success story and a force for good in the world, would continue to develop practical and friendly relations with all like-minded countries, she said.
The government would also work with the US and other democratic partners to help Lithuania tackle hybrid threats imposed by authoritarian regimes and defend democratic institutions, Ou said.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs last week recalled Lithuanian Charge d’affaires ad interim in China Audra Ciapiene to Vilnius for consultations, but added that its embassy in China would continue its operations remotely.
In a statement on Monday, the Lithuanian ministry said that “false information regarding Lithuania’s participation in the Beijing Winter Olympics has appeared publicly on behalf of the [Lithuanian] minister of foreign affairs. The foreign ministry considers it to be an information attack.”
On the same day, Lithuania’s State Border Guard Service wrote on Twitter that it was using uncrewed aerial vehicles donated by Taiwan to survey and bolster the EU’s eastern border with Belarus.
“We’re pleased to see the drones donated by #Taiwan to #Lithuania during the trade & investment tour of 3 #EU members in October being put to good use,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry wrote on Twitter.
In related news, 25 Lithuanian food retailers have joined the Food Taipei trade show to showcase their products.
It opened yesterday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center and ends on Saturday.
If the COVID-19 situation allows, Lithuanian Minister for Agriculture Kestutis Navickas would lead a business delegation to visit Taiwan next year, the Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture said last week.
Additional reporting by CNA
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
RSS